The gender theory, which is behind the homosexual revolution and the attack on the family was highlighted in Pope Benedicts Christmas message to Vatican prelates this morning. There is no denying the crisis that threatens, the family to its foundations  especially in the Western world, he said.

Crediting the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, for the research, Pope Benedict XVI said the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper than was originally believed. While up to now we regarded a false understanding of the nature of human freedom as one cause of the crisis of the family, it is now becoming clear that the very notion of being  of what being human really means  is being called into question.

According to the gender philosophy, explained the Pope, sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society.

The Holy Father added: The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious.

People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.

According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature. This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God. This very duality as something previously given is what is now disputed. The words of the creation account: male and female he created them (Gen 1:27) no longer apply.

No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female  hitherto society did this, now we decide for ourselves. Man and woman as created realities, as the nature of the human being, no longer exist. Man calls his nature into question. From now on, he is merely spirit and will.

The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes mans fundamental choice where he himself is concerned. From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be. Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed. But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation.

Pope Benedict XVI concluded, When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being. The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends God is defending man.

The sex positive agenda (as espoused by Reich, Kinsey, and socialist feminists) seeks to end all moral judgments over ALL sexual pairings regardless of sex, age, relation, marital status, number, or species of partner(s).

Believers consider abstinence “unhealthy” as it is a suppression of sexual desire. They believe orgasms are a birthright to be enjoyed at every age.

The homosexual agenda is just the battering ram to unleash the floodgates. Decades of cultural assault are paying off for them. They have institutionalized their amoral value system in our schools, hospitals, government, and entertainment.

Positive.org has a “just say yes” campaign.

According to the Sex Positive entry on Wikipedia, they even have language calling religious institutions “sex negative”.

One of my pet peeves about today’s world is that on forms such as job applications, library card applications, etc., the term “gender,” heretofore confined to linguistics and the study of languages, has replaced the term “sex.” The spread of “gender theory” among our academic, cultural and political elite is probably the reason.

The actual problem will not arise until the majority no longer has morality. At present, those who are immoral can exist in a relatively safe environment because they are not the majority. However, when most people are no longer held in check by morality, then the immoral majority will cease to tolerate one another, and laws will no longer constrain people. Imagine a world where everyone was acting in only their own self interest instead of today when people are restrained by faith based tenants of civility towards society. Imagine that everyone is taking and charity no longer exists.

To put this in a clearer prospective, understand a world where children are unrestrained by becoming responsible adults and that they seek only gratification of oneself; that individuals are immature to the point that they demand society give them everything they want; imagine a United States where everyone is a democrat demanding that they be given everything and that there is no one else to take from in order to supply their demands. This is the crisis the Pope refers although he does not yet understand that the world is fast becoming one in which all men are takers, not makers, and God's restraints upon mankind no longer serve to temper his Passion.

The actual problem will not arise until the majority no longer has morality. At present, those who are immorale can exist in a relatively safe environment because they are not the majority. However, when most people are no longer held in check by morality, then the immoral majority will cease to tolerate one another, and laws will no longer constrain people. Imagine a world where everyone was acting in only their own self interest instead of today when people are restrained by faith based tenants of civility towards society. Imagine that everyone is taking and charity no longer exists.

To put this in a clearer prospective, understand a world where children are unrestrained by becoming responsible adults and that they seek only gratification of oneself; that individuals are immature to the point that they demand society give them everything they want; imagine a United States where everyone is a democrat demanding that they be given everything and that there is no one else to take from in order to supply their demands. This is the crisis the Pope refers although he does not yet understand that the world is fast becoming one in which all men are takers, not makers, and God's restraints upon mankind no longer serve to temper his Passion.

I would like to read what Bernheim has or say. I know Benedict XVI is big on both Biblical Law and Natural Law.I wonder if Rabbi Bernheim centers in on the Genesis account of Creation, or if he (also) reflects on Natural Law as such.

I think B16 is absolutely right--- that this is much, much bigger than most people realize.

understand a world where children are unrestrained by becoming responsible adults and that they seek only gratification of oneself; that individuals are immature to the point that they demand society give them everything they want

In some parts of the world (including areas in these United States) this is already realized. God have mercy on those of us who still have ears to hear Him.

Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in Gods own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of Gods kingdom.

Also note the the strong parallels between +Leo's homily and the Paschal Homily of +John Chrysostom.

11
posted on 12/29/2012 9:30:55 PM PST
by lightman
(If the Patriarchate of the East held a state like the Vatican I would apply for political asylum.)

According to the gender philosophy, explained the Pope, sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society.

Well, God (or if you prefer to put it that way, nature) furnished the fundamentals, and society filled in details. Greeks and Englishmen may differ as to whether a skirt is a proper thing for a man to wear but both identify styles of garb as characteristically male. The pope is getting warm, but he could be hotter.

13
posted on 12/29/2012 10:57:05 PM PST
by HiTech RedNeck
(How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)

Our bishop, despite a packed calendar, made time last week to drive 4 hours to our small church and celebrate Divine Liturgy and the Christmas Novena. In his homily, he spoke about the need to distance ourselves from the clamor of a culture that lures us away from Christ. He invited us to join him the following morning for Safro (morning) prayers.

Let me remind everyone that our community is quite small (60 families), that include many elderly as well as mothers with young children. Since this was a weekday, the mothers were busy getting their children off to school, while the elderly lacked commutation. That left a group in the middle, whose need to work prevented their attendance. Alas, only a small contingent of 10 retirees, like myself, was able to join him. The bishop is a humble man who fully understands this and was pleased that we made time for these beautiful prayers.

I took the opportunity that morning, after reflecting on the previous night's homily, to give him an extract from the Pro Eligendo homily delivered by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger at the mass celebrated before the cardinals were sequestered in the conclave to elect the next pope. Here is that extract. These words of wisdom were spoken on April 18, 2005. They resonate even more today. Referring to Eph 4: 14:

How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.

Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.

We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceit from truth.

We must develop this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - that creates unity and is fulfilled in love.

We catholics are truly blessed to have lived during the papacy of Benedict XVI. Like Leo the Great and John Chrysostom, the record of his words will continue to nurture future generations who seek guidance in dealing with their own culture. Please remember Pope Benedict in your prayers! He shoulders great burdens.

15
posted on 12/30/2012 12:53:03 PM PST
by NYer
("Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." --Jeremiah 1:5)

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